Tile Stove

Artist/Maker
Schaffner, Heinrich
Place Made
Salem, North Carolina
Date Made
1835-1840
Medium
earthenware
Dimensions
WOA 20
Accession Number
S-388
Description
Yellow tile stove; tiles are a red earthenware coated with a white slip and glazed with a yellow tinted clear glaze.
History
As Shaffner did not arrive in Salem until the end of the year 1833, and as the Bishop’s House (for which this stove was made) was not built until 1838, this stove must date between 1835 and 1840. Latest type of stove made in Wachovia. The acanthus leaf and “hairy paw” feet designs are characteristic of the late Neoclassical or Empire Style, which would have been going out of style by this time.

The Vogler House is believed to have had tile stoves because of the fragments of at least two different types found in the back yard. However, it is possible that these fragments came from the earlier Anna Catherina House, which John Vogler moved in 1819 and later converted to a carriage house.

By 1840, this stove would have been burning bituminous coal imported to Salem.

Artist Biography
MAKER: Heinrich (Henry) Schaffner son of Jacob and Mary Schaffner. He was born March 28, 1798 in Switzerland and died June 24, 1877 in Salem. He married Lavinia Hauser (first wife) and Emilia Meinung (second wife). He had Two children by his first wife: Maria Catharina and John Francis. He had three children by his second wife: Louisa Carolina, Sarah Elisabeth and Cornelia Lisette.

“Schaffner…arrived in Salem in 1833. An industrious sort, Schaffner was placed with John Holland but shortly found that he could not remain in that situation and applied for permission to open his own shop. He was allowed to purchase the old 1766 [Builder’s House] near the northwest boundary of Salem, the members of the Collegium stating at the same time that they [regretted…that Schaffner could not take over the pottery altogether in Holland’s place; the latter shows little zeal in carrying it on.] Schaffner carried on what evidently was an excellent trade in both fancy and utilitarian wares, though his shop increasingly had to compete with inexpensive and readily available imported ironstone and other such manufactured ware. The heyday of the potteries in Wachovia had occurred in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when there was no competition from the outside. Nonetheless, Schaffner’s pottery continued to operate until the end of the century – after the 1870’s in the hands of Schaffner’s former apprentice, Daniel Krause, who was Salem’s last potter.” (Bivins & Welshimer, p.38-39)

Credit Line
Wachovia Historical Society Collection